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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9617392" data-attributes="member: 42582">I'm curious if you agree with me that there are some sorts of resolution methods that don't work very well for situation-based play.I look, for instance, at your descriptions of Jackson and Bellow. I can see how that would feed into resolution in Burning Wheel. Or Prince Valiant. I assume that you have in mind Sorcerer. I can imagine how that could also support resolution in HeroWars/Quest. Even in Marvel Heroic RP. And to make this statement, of what seems possible to me, a bit more concrete, here are some examples of how this might play out, for a system broadly in the realm of the ones I've named:Suppose that the players (as their PCs) know that it is Bellow who is determined that they be hunted down. So they need to counter wealth and boasting. So they spread rumours among all the valets and up-market innkeepers that they are under the protection of a golden dragon. And now maybe we test (say) the PCs Upper-class connections + Decption vs Bellow's Wealth modified by his Easily Impressed flaw; or (in a different system) vs the assassin's Boasting + Prowess modified by his Undiligent flaw.Suppose, rather, that it is Jackson's assassin who is pursuing them; and so the players have their PCs hide in a warehouse with an Alarm spell readied so that they can take down the assassin as soon as the latter triggers the Alarm. And so we frame a contest of the PCs' Diligent Preparation + Magical Wardings vs the assassin's Patient + Deadly, with the upshot of that contest then rolling into the resolution of the next contest (either the assassin has the advantage vs the PCs, or the PCs' trap has worked and they have the advantage vs the assassin).But now consider a system like AD&D or Rolemaster. I don't see how your descriptions of Jackson and Bellow, and the extrapolations to the assassins they might hire, will provide much help with resolution in . Because the resolution - of Alarm or Waiting Illusion or other defensive measures - depends so much on details (minutiae pertaining to time, distance, architecture, who speaks to whom, etc) that are not part of the situation, that we don't really care about in the situation, and that the facts about Bellow and Jackson really don't bear upon.We need detailed maps of the warehouse - where do these come from? Who decides if the warehouse is really suitable for the PCs' trap? How is it decided what path Jackson's assassin takes to and through the warehouse?We need to know details about all the valets and inn-keepers. Who decides what their attitude is to the PCs, to the PCs' lie about their dragon protector, to Bellow's assassin who is trying to hunt them down. And what affect does that lie have on Bellow's assassin?The features of resolution systems that don't work for situation-based play might be summed up thus: (i) they require the input of information that is not part of the situations that the game has established, and (ii) they generate a focus on, and make salient, elements of the fiction that are not really significant in the situations.(ii) can be related to (i), but need not be.</blockquote>

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